In Bible class today, I read an explanation of the readings in which two of God’s key actions were highlighted. They are first, His love, and second, His giving. These words provided me with much to think about. In the Bible, I often read how God has shown His love to us. Associating these words with my knowledge of the life I’ve lived to receive love and give love back led me to reminisce over the times I spent with my daughters, Ellen and Paula. I was very young when I became a mother. I gave birth to Ellen at twenty-one, and Paula was born at twenty-two.
Both daughters are a gift from God, and my attachment to each one at their birth was, and still is, a mystery to me. Where did this massive spiritual action of creation filled with love come from, and why did I receive it from the moment they were placed in my arms, or perhaps even sooner? Even before they were born, love was automatically there. How can this be? How great is our Lord? When I became a mother, I received the beautiful gift of love I had for each baby. As time went by, my love for them grew. This led me to believe and sense that life was not worth living without God in my life. Without God, I could never feel how great His giving is and how wonderful my love for my daughters is. His gift to me is my children, and I am filled with knowledge that my part in His creation of a baby is an act of unconditional love given directly to me and their birth father, Jim, from Him. God wanted to fill the earth (procreation) in His image, and His love produces life generation after generation. When parents receive this gift of life from God, they experience the biggest gift of a miracle one can comprehend, making a baby.
When I thought of myself giving a gift to someone else, I assumed a gift was something tangible. Examples are offering a painting of the beauty in the world or a gorgeous necklace and earring set I designed. Gifts I decide to give to others must have special meaning to them, and my written words or a printed card with a beautiful message could be added to make my gift even more meaningful. Sometimes I know that just handing over a material item should have something else accompanying it. This “other” item needed to be significant as a gift from my heart, and the best example would be to write down or recite my message to this special person. I should relay to them how special they are to me and thank them for being my friend. Whenever I act like this, it is like a door opened before me, showing how God is pleased with me because I shared my love with another person. God is all about love; therefore, I must set an example of who I am so God will be pleased with me.
Saying the Rosary Prayer is an additional beautiful gift I can give to another person. This is where I mention them in my intention as I start saying prayers on the Rosary beads. The experience of giving is not so much the beauty of the item I am giving but the pleasure I receive from giving. When I give a gift to a family member, friend, or someone new in my life, I immediately recognize it brings them happiness because I show love and caring. My desire to act on love and friendship within me by means of giving is an action to please God and another step closer to developing a friendship with the person I give. Both of us feel like winners because I receive a sense of knowing I did a beautiful deed which makes me happy, and they are pleased because they feel someone cares about them.
Performing an act of giving makes us develop happiness because we did something for someone to show how we care about them. This is a good thing, and we all need to do it more often. Loving and giving is a win-win situation.
~ Carole J. Sluski
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